### L556-64 pros and cons of rafts ^b2d5bc > Poles must soon have become flat-bladed paddles, which, when used by several people, would move the raft along slowly in calm conditions. Again, less a matter of invention than of necessity, for anyone who has stirred a boiling container over a fire knows that a wooden paddle does the job best. Paddles worked well in calm or moderate weather, but rough water was another matter, for flat, clumsy rafts, even when constructed of buoyant wood, were practicably immovable when paddled against even moderate headwinds. > Rafts were the usual means of crossing open water—and they had the advantage of being able to carry enough people to form founder populations > Reeds make for light boats, easily carried ashore, but they become waterlogged and useless within two or three days. For - [[Beyond the Blue Horizon by Brian Fagan#L556-64 pros and cons of rafts|View in Vault]]